This summer, Viltrox released the AF 26mm F2.8 Evo, a pancake-style full-frame lens that aims to be an excellent everyday carry option. I’ve had the chance to spend some time shooting with it in a variety of conditions, and have a surprising number of thoughts on it given how relatively simple it seems.

Optics with character

Despite my concerns about focus, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how sharp this lens is in the center given the size, weight and price. It won’t win any awards, and you’ll definitely want to stop down for best results (especially at the edges), but again, for what it is I was quite pleased with the results I got. Vignetting is also quite well-controlled, even at F2.8.

The lens shows some longitudinal chromatic aberration in relatively harsh lighting, but again, it’s a pretty decent performance for this category of lens. There’s what I’d call a low-to-medium amount of barrel distortion, too, which Viltrox corrects for with a software profile, but it’s not to the point where we’d say that the software profile is mandatory if you’d rather not, or can’t, use it.

Mitchell Clark

I appreciated the 26mm F2.8’s close-focusing abilities – it’s nice to see that manufacturers are really paying attention to those these days – and I found its bokeh to be inoffensive. It’s not the cleanest ever, but I’m also not typically using a 26mm lens to get the blurriest backgrounds.

This is all relatively standard fare for a prime these days, so what makes me say it has a lot of character? It’s the flare, because wow is there ever a lot of it. If there’s a bright light source just outside of frame, expect the image to look fairly washed-out. The included lens hood (which reduces the lens’s size advantage, though, admittedly, not by much) helps a little, but the effect is still quite strong.

Point light sources in the frame will also produce relatively large streaks of light, in a way that I haven’t seen in a lens for a while, outside of ones explicitly designed to produce that effect. I personally think it’s neat and don’t mind it on a lens that I’d mainly use for fun, but it and the flare are intense enough that I would absolutely think twice before trying to use this lens for a professional shoot, especially if it took place at night. Frankly, I’m a little confused why Viltrox used its “Evo” branding on this lens, as I typically associate it with an impressive level of image quality that this doesn’t quite deliver on.

The shooting experience

While our lens testing standards meant that I exclusively used this lens paired with a relatively hefty Nikon Z8, I still found myself being delighted with this lens’ small size. Paired with a smaller camera, like a Nikon Zf or Z5IIC or a Sony a7C-series, it would make for an impressively small full-frame kit.

Mitchell Clark

Despite its size, the lens has two rings: one for manual focus and a clicked one for aperture. I did, however, find the latter to be a bit touchy, and I ended up with a lot of shots at aperture settings that were 1/3EV off from what I was aiming for. Thankfully, it has an “A” position that hands over control to the camera, which I found useful for times when I was constantly putting it back in a bag.

If you’ve seen our unboxing video for this lens, you’ll know that I was extremely excited upon discovering that it has a magnetic lens cap, which is very easy to remove and, perhaps more importantly, to put back on. After a few months of use, my enthusiasm remains, and it’s something I’d like to see on more lenses. It’s not entirely perfect – I found it was a bit more eager to detach than a traditional pinch design when I was taking my camera out of a bag or putting it back in – but I found myself being much more willing to use it because of the lack of fiddliness in putting it on and taking it off.

The focusing experience with this lens wasn’t my favorite, even compared to other Viltrox lenses I’ve used for Z-mount. It has a unit focus that physically moves in and out as you go from close to infinity, and it’s not particularly quick. While I had a decent hit rate with it, it wasn’t particularly confidence-inspiring in the moment; even a slight move of the autofocus point often led to the lens dramatically changing focus, making the whole scene soft before slowly bringing it back into focus.

This experience isn’t uncommon among pancake lenses, but it’s worth keeping in mind, depending on what you wish to shoot with this lens.

The manual focus experience also isn’t lovely. Given its size, the ring is relatively easy to manipulate, but there was a touch of lag between when I turned it and when the focus actually changed, which led to me frequently overshooting my intended subject. There also isn’t much fine-grained control once you get near infinity, which changes happening in chunks, instead of smoothly.

Summary

I don’t want to come across as being too harsh on this lens. While its $299 price tag may be a bit more than the rock-bottom prices some buyers may be accustomed to from Viltrox, it still seems fair to me given what this lens offers, especially to fans of the 26mm focal length. Pancake lenses often come with sacrifices, and this one is no exception, but the Nikon and Sony lenses it’s competing with cost substantially more… though there are, perhaps, more reasons to choose the own-brand versions over the Viltrox than we’re used to seeing from the brand.

Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don’t abuse it. 

Thanks to Nikon for the loan of a Z8 to produce this sample gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer’s distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting. The profile corrects a fair amount of barrel distortion, but we don’t consider it an essential part of the lens’s optical design.

A few months ago, we quietly launched Today in Photography, a new version of DPReview’s weekly email for anyone who wants to keep up with the photo world. It also marked a return to one of the site’s early ideas: our newsletter dates back to 1999, and past versions included more than just links to the latest stories.

Now, we’re excited to announce that we are expanding to twice a week, arriving in your inbox every Sunday and Wednesday, with original content you won’t find on the website.

Today in Photography includes far more than just a roundup of stories already on DPReview. It features a wide selection of newsletter-only material we’re creating specifically for subscribers: a personal note from the editor, behind-the-scenes looks at what our team is testing, inspiring photos and posts we spot on social media, standout images and quotes from the DPReview community, photography history and more.

You may also find quick newsletter-specific photo challenges, accessory reviews, reader polls, firmware and software update roundups, camera and imaging tech explainers, photography tips, upcoming photo opportunities, deals, quizzes, culture picks and occasional reader Q&As with the DPReview team. In other words, there’s a lot to check out in each edition of Today in Photography.

We still cover the latest articles and biggest industry news, but Today in Photography is a chance to step beyond the homepage, with interesting, useful and fun parts of photography that don’t always make it into a full article.

If that sounds like your kind of email, sign up for Today in Photography at the link below to keep up with what’s happening at DPReview and across the photography world, plus plenty you won’t find on the site. We’d love to have you join us.

Viltrox recently announced that four of its lightweight Air series prime lenses (14mm F4.0, 20mm F2.8, 40mm F2.5 and 50mm F2.0) are now available for L-mount. Although Viltrox joined the L-Mount Alliance just over a year ago, it had released only two lenses for the system before this announcement, making this a substantial expansion of its L-mount lineup.

While the lenses themselves aren’t new beyond an updated mount option, we took the opportunity to test the Viltrox AF 50mm F2.0 Air on the Panasonic S1RII.

Abby Ferguson

First, let’s put the lens in context with Viltrox’s other offerings. The Air series is the company’s compact, budget-oriented lens line, designed around portability. Compared with the company’s larger, faster-aperture Pro and Lab lenses, Air models prioritize low weight, smaller dimensions and affordability over professional-grade construction, on-lens controls and top-end optical performance.

As a result, the lens is remarkably simple, with its only feature being a manual focus ring. I found the texture on the ring to be quite nice; enough to give me grip, but not too aggressive. The focus throw strikes a good balance, allowing quick shifts between near and far focus without contorting my wrist. It also has just enough resistance to make it easy to get precise adjustments when manually focusing.

Abby Ferguson

In terms of autofocus, I found the lens performed well. I didn’t have any substantial issues or exceedingly slow-to-focus moments. I didn’t test the lens on many fast-moving subjects beyond my black dog, which occasionally resulted in focus falling just behind her face as she moved. It’s hard to say whether that’s an issue with the camera not quite nailing where to drive the lens, or with the lens not keeping up with what the camera’s telling it to do.

Size is the main selling point of this lens, and indeed, it is remarkably compact and lightweight. On the bulky S1RII, the 50mm F2.0 Air was hardly noticeable. It barely sticks out from the camera and only adds 205 g (7.2 oz). It was an ideal lens for keeping in a small sling while walking about.

Abby Ferguson

My biggest complaint about the lens is how it handles lens flare. I’m someone who, at times, is like a little flare in an image. But I am not a fan of the flare that this lens produces. It can be really overpowering, and, to me at least, doesn’t have a very pleasing look to it. It isn’t very susceptible to flare unless pointed very directly at the sun, so it’s easy to avoid, but I didn’t like the look very much. You can judge for yourself in the samples below.

Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don’t abuse it. 

It’s another week and another camera launch for the DPReview team to discuss. This week, we gathered to talk about the Nikon Z5IIC, what we think about its lack of an EVF and people’s reactions to it.

If you prefer something a bit shorter, you can also check out our first look video, which we shot mainly using the Z5IIC. And, of course, our written review is also up for those that want to go in-depth.

What else would you like to know about the Z5IIC? Let us know in the comments below.

As a reviewer covering the camera industry, I spend a lot of time in comments sections, forums and subreddits, seeing what people think of the latest releases and the rumors of what’s coming next. While I often see smart, informed discussions happening, this habit also exposes me to some… interesting takes.

As an example. This is more of a problem on other sites and on social media than on DPReview (though it’ll occasionally happen here) I’ve noticed a recent trend under many articles about new or upcoming cameras – even budget models – where there will be a few comments that are something along the lines of “No global shutter?” And then other people will chime in agreeing that the camera is DOA without one, and an example of manufacturers cheaping out or being behind the times.

And I just have to say: what are you all talking about?? Do you even know what a global shutter is, or are you just asking for one because you’ve heard it’s cool?

Thankfully, these comments aren’t common here on DPReview, and I know most of you are familiar with the concept of a global shutter. But for those that aren’t: it’s a sensor design that lets you capture and read out every pixel, simultaneously, as opposed to having to read them out line-by-line like you have to on cameras with a rolling shutter. This essentially instantaneous readout is even faster than a traditional focal plane mechanical shutter, and is much faster than standard e-shutter readout modes.

Richard Butler

It is a genuinely useful technology for certain scenarios. It lets you sync with flash at effectively any shutter speed (though it can take some trial and error), and capture even the fastest-moving subjects without any risk of the skewing that can happen with rolling shutter*. It can also reduce the risk of banding when shooting under LED lights or photographing a subject with an electronic display behind them. There is still the risk of catching a display when its dark or refreshing, depending on your exposure duration and how fast the screen is, but it gets rid of any potential mismatches between refresh and shutter rates. Global shutters are luxurious for video, too, as there’s absolutely no Jell-o effect no matter how fast your pan, or if you point your camera out of a moving car or towards an arriving train.

Mitchell Clark

I get that it can kind of feel like camera technology has stagnated in recent years, and that people are hungry for a big leap forwards in performance. But let’s take a step back and look at the reality of the situation for a second.

There has only been one full-frame hybrid mirrorless camera released with a global shutter: the Sony a9 III. It is aimed at professional sports and action shooters, and is priced accordingly, coming in $6800. The tech is a bit more common in the world of cinema cameras, but doesn’t come for cheap there, either.

The a9 III also has a notable drawback: its complex readout circuitry limits how much light it can tolerate, pushing its base ISO up to 250 and limiting the image quality you can get out of it compared to other full-frame cameras. The best image you can take with it will have up to a stop and a third more noise than the best image out of another full-frame camera with a base ISO of 100. Its peak IQ performance is much closer to that of an APS-C camera, though at the same ISO settings it’ll still out-perform a camera with a smaller sensor.

With a sample size of one, it’s hard to say if this is inherent to modern global shutter designs (some older CCD chips also had global shutters), or is simply an aspect of this particular sensor, but it’s certainly worth noting if you’re advocating that basically every new camera should have a global shutter. They are not an unalloyed upgrade in every way. Instead, current global shutter sensors make trade-offs in order to be better for some niche use-cases.

Which is why I really do not understand why people say that they should be in every camera, from the most budget options on up. Putting aside whether that’s even economically realistic, do we really think beginner photographers absolutely need perfectly parallel lines in action shots using e-shutter, and that it’s so important that it’d be worth giving up some image quality for?

I want to make it clear that I’m not advocating for consumers to just take what they’re giving and not ask for more from companies. It’s totally fine to look critically at cameras and say “I think you could do better.” (I mean, that is essentially my job.) And I understand the desire for there to be at least one or two less expensive options with global shutter for those that would use them for their purpose, but that don’t have the cash for a top-of-the-line pro camera.

But I think that if we’re going to spend energy campaigning for improvements, they should be ones that are actually sensible, and that are good matches for the target market. It’s one thing to recognize that image quality appears to be plateauing, but, to me, it’s hard to say that means every camera should include a more expensive technology that trades some IQ for a behavior that’s only really useful in very specific situations.

*- To be fair: the fastest stacked sensor cameras with rolling shutters, which have readout speeds within the 2-4ms range, have also essentially eliminated that risk.

Earlier this week, Nikon announced the Z5IIC, an entry-level full-frame camera with no EVF, but that retails for a mere $1400. We were able to spend some time with not one, but two of them before the launch, and thought it’d be a good opportunity to shoot our first look with the camera itself.

There are a few shots in it that weren’t taken using the Z5IIC, but the vast majority of the footage was, which should give you an idea of its capabilities. Of course, the camera is as focused on stills as it is on video, so we included sample photos as well.

What do you think of the Z5IIC? Do you agree with the cuts Nikon made to hit the price point the camera’s selling at? Let us know in the comments below. As usual with a major launch, we plan to publish a discussion video this weekend discussing the camera and our community’s reactions to it.

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Leica has announced a silver version of its Leica Lux Grip, along with Leica Lux 2.0, a major update to its iPhone camera app. The update incorporates the same gallery interface used in Leica Fotos, the company’s app for connecting its cameras to smartphones and includes a new Artist Look developed with photographer Steve McCurry.

What’s new

Leica

The silver Leica Lux Grip follows the original black model, which launched in February 2025. Other than color, it’s identical to the original: it attaches to an iPhone via MagSafe and provides a two-stage shutter release, a settings wheel and two customizable function buttons for direct access to key camera settings. Its built-in battery is rated for 1,000 shots and charges over USB-C. The grip works with the iPhone 12 and later models.

Leica is also releasing new Lux cases for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which are made of black leather. The cases feature an integrated camera button rather than an open cutout, which Leica says makes the case sturdier and the button more reliable to operate.

Leica

Lux 2.0 is the most significant update to the app since its 2024 launch. It now shares its gallery interface with Leica Fotos, giving both apps a consistent layout, and a redesigned interface featuring app icons inspired by classic Leica cameras. The gallery adds a filmstrip for selecting individual images from the detail view and multi-select in the grid view. Photos can be opened directly into Capture One or Adobe Lightroom for editing, alongside the existing Darkroom option. The app continues to offer Leica lens simulations and manual control over camera settings.

The McCurry Artist Look

Leica

The new Steve McCurry Artist Look is a color and tonal profile developed with the photographer best known for his 1985 portrait Afghan Girl. It follows an earlier Artist Looks collaboration with photographer Greg Williams. Leica says its Artist Looks aren’t meant to replicate a photographer’s work, but to give photographers a starting point to develop their own.

Price and availability

The silver Leica Lux Grip and the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases are available beginning today. The Lux Grip retails for $395 or €300, and includes a one-year subscription to Leica Lux Pro, which unlocks the app’s full feature set. Each case costs $95 or €95.

The Leica Lux 2.0 app will be available beginning in early October and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. The app is free; a Lux Pro subscription is required for full access, currently $70/year. The Steve McCurry Artist Look and iPhone 18 Pro support are available now.

If you’ve recently upgraded your iPhone, or are getting more into photography, you may be wondering how to make the most of the increasingly sophisticated camera hardware and relatively complex software.

It can be a surprisingly in-depth topic, especially given the range of hardware available throughout different iPhone lines and generations, but we’ll try to make it as simple as we can, and call out when tips are exclusive to certain models.

Is more resolution always better?

Depending on which model iPhone you have, your phone may give you the option to shoot photos in higher resolution, though the toggle for it may be a bit buried. To access them, you’ll first have to go to Settings > Camera > Formats, then enable either “Resolution Control” if you have a non-Pro phone, or “ProRAW & Resolution Control” on Pro phones. You’ll then be able to access a “Formats” button within the camera app that lets you switch resolutions.

In our tests, we found that, in good light, the differences between the iPhone’s 48MP photos and default 24MP HEIC images were quite subtle, despite the files being roughly double the size (or larger). For that reason, it’s hard to recommend leaving it on all the time. For highly detailed, well-lit scenes, though, it can be worth turning on to make sure you capture as much as possible.

iPhone 17 Pro Max | Raws processed with Adobe Camera Raw at default settings | All exported as JPEG w/ matching settings

For best results, we don’t recommend using the higher-resolution mode in low-light scenarios. Because of how the quad-bayer sensors used in iPhones work, capturing the full resolution means giving up some noise performance. While the iPhone has noise-reduction, we found that the additional work it had to do made the difference between the higher-resolution and standard modes even less distinct.

What about Raw?

iPhone 17 Pro Max | Main Camera | ProRaw processed with ACR at default settings

If you have a Pro-series phone, you have the option of not just changing your photos’ resolution, but to shoot in Raw as well, using a proprietary Apple format called ProRaw. While we didn’t notice an appreciable amount of detail in our ProRaw shots – the main benefit comes from a bit more control over the processing – we did find that our selected resolution made much more of a difference than it did with non-Raw images.

This is in part due to the fact that, in Raw, your choice is between 12 and 48MP, rather than 24 and 48. Our 48MP Raw images had considerably more detail than the 12MP ones.

On the iPhone 18 Pro: consider your aperture and settings

The just-released iPhone 18 Pro introduces two new considerations that we haven’t seen before: a variable aperture and manual controls. The latter ends up being a greater consideration than you might think. According to The Verge, manually adjusting your shutter speed causes the phone to take a single exposure, as opposed to the multiple shots it usually takes. We found that manually adjusting your aperture, and leaving the phone to control shutter speed, resulted in images that appeared to still use the phone’s multi-shot computational mode.

In our tests, the images in the single shot mode were often still quite good. In bright daylight, you’d likely struggle to tell the difference between the single exposures and the ones multi-shot computational photos produced with computational methods that have long allowed phones to produce better images than would otherwise be possible because of their relatively small sensors. Even if you’re pixel-peeping, the difference is subtle.

iPhone 18 Pro | Main camera, 48MP | F1.48 | 1/30 sec
Photo: Dale Baskin

In low-light settings, the effects of using a single exposure rather than a multi-shot one will become much more noticeable in the form of more noise and less detail. Unless you’re going for a specific look or effect, it’s probably best to avoid manual shutter control in low light.

Our advice for achieving best results with the variable aperture won’t surprise anyone familiar with traditional photography: for sharpest results stop down. The lens’ F1.8 setting is noticeably better than its F1.48 one, and while theoretically the effects of diffraction will start to creep in around F2.8 and F4, we didn’t find that there was too much of an issue with sharpness at those settings in our tests.

Other considerations

While Apple markets its phones’ crop modes (the 2x and, on the Pros, 8x settings) as “optical quality,” they are created only using a quarter of their respective sensor’s area, and so come with a definite loss of quality. Of course, if the choice is between using them and not getting the shot at all, they’re handy to have, but it’s worth getting a little closer and using one of the actual optical settings if possible.

Speaking of the other cameras, it’s also worth noting that the main camera is by far the iPhone’s largest, with the ultrawide and telephoto ones using much smaller sensors. Again, there are some situations where they’re the best tool for the job, but if image quality is your main concern, it’s worth using the main camera, especially in lower-light situations.

Xiaomi has announced the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, two new flagship smartphones featuring Leica-branded triple-camera systems. The company says the lineup will reach global markets (except the US), a first for its Pro phones. The phones are also the first powered by Qualcomm’s newly released Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips.

Cameras

Unlike their predecessors, the two phones share identical camera setups. They pair a 200MP main camera with a 200MP periscope telephoto, a notable bump in resolution from the 50MP main and telephoto cameras found on the 17 Pro series. Those two cameras also benefit from faster apertures. Additionally, the phones feature a 50MP ultrawide, though it stays consistent with its predecessor’s.

The main camera uses a Type 1/1.28 (74.4mm²) sensor with LOFIC technology, which is designed to improve highlight handling and dynamic range. Xiaomi is among several phone makers now using the sensor architecture in high-end models. That main camera also features a Leica Summilux lens design, which combines precision glass and plastic elements, and Xiaomi says it offers CIPA-rated seven stops of shake correction.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi also introduced “Legendary Moment,” a new imaging system that the company says combines on-device and cloud-based processing with Leica color science. Xiaomi says the feature can apply camera-inspired styles, though it hasn’t provided many details yet.

Displays and design

Xiaomi

Both phones add a hardware-level Privacy Display feature, which looks broadly similar to the privacy-display technology Samsung introduced on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Xiaomi says it can limit off-axis viewing for an individual app and automatically apply the protection to associated notifications, floating windows and split-screen views, while leaving the rest of the display unaffected.

The new phones also retain the secondary display on the back of the phone from the 17 Pro generation. In addition to showing notifications and widgets, it can serve as a live viewfinder when using the rear cameras, making it easier to frame higher-quality main-camera selfies or vlog clips without switching to the front-facing camera. It also allows users to set custom wallpapers and can interact with the phone’s AI assistant.

Xiaomi

In terms of primary display, the 18 Pro features a 6.4-inch panel, while the Pro Max is a larger 6.9 inches. Both use 120Hz LTPO AMOLED displays with 4000-nit peak brightness and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support.

The 18 Pro uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, while the 18 Pro Max receives the higher-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Qualcomm announced both platforms on September 22, only one day before Xiaomi introduced the phones.

Pricing and availability

Xiaomi has launched the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China, where they start at CNY 5,999 (about $895) and CNY 6,999 (about $1045), respectively. Xiaomi says the phones will reach global markets later this year, excluding the US, but it has not shared a specific launch schedule.

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When Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, the headline camera feature was a variable aperture main lens with four settings – F1.48, F1.8, F2.8 and F4 – a first for iPhone. That wider F1.48 maximum is roughly half a stop faster than the F1.78 lens found on several previous Pro models, which should let the camera capture about 45% more light. For our sample gallery, we put that new, larger aperture to work across a range of subjects and lighting conditions to see how it performs..

The iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture provides a modest degree of depth-of-field control by letting you choose your aperture, though in practical terms, those apertures translate to roughly F5 to F14 on a full-frame camera; even at F1.48, you won’t be able to get the shallow depth of field possible with a dedicated camera and a fast lens. However, when wide open, the faster lens provides a real, if modest, background separation advantage over older iPhones, and stopping down will deepen the depth of field enough to show visible differences.

Dale Baskin

Since the iPhone 18 Pro’s cameras are otherwise broadly similar to the previous generation, we biased our gallery toward shooting at F1.48 to assess what that faster aperture can deliver – and where its limits are, including several sequences shot at all four aperture settings to show how out-of-focus regions shift as the lens closes down. We also pointed the camera directly at point sources of light to see how the lens handled flare at different apertures and whether there was a meaningful difference in creating sunstars.

If you’re deciding whether to upgrade from an older iPhone Pro, our upgrade guide compares the iPhone 18 Pro to every Pro model back to the 12. For a broader look at the new phones and what else changed beyond the camera, see our launch coverage.

Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don’t abuse it. 

Apple

iPhone 18 Pro

Meet Peter Swan

Home base: Durham, England

Peter Swan, known as TheDispossessed in the forums, is a Durham-based nature photographer who has found a hidden world of subjects in the small things many people overlook. His compact Micro Four Thirds kit is built around an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and a 60mm macro lens. The selectively chosen diffused flash helps him reveal the color, texture and character of insects and other smaller creatures – from garden regulars to rare British butterflies.

“I first got into photography properly when I purchased my first digital camera, a Canon PowerShot S60, back in 2004. Back then, my main subjects to photograph were landscapes and cityscapes. I got my first DSLR a couple of years later (a Canon 350D) in 2006. This led me to become interested in photographing subjects that required specialized lenses – for example, those capable of 1:1 macro. Since then, I’ve steadily built up a collection of photographic gear but have gravitated towards the micro four-thirds format for its overall convenience.”

Our ‘What’s in your bag?’ community spotlight series features readers sharing their favorite gear and photography, including from past DPReview collaborators. See below for what Lester has to share.

What’s in Peter’s bag

Peter Swan

Favorite cameras(s): Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

Favorite lens(s):

• Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro (“my favorite lens”)
• Olympus 100-400mm F5-6.3
• Olympus 25mm F1.2
• Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6
• Panasonic 35-100mm F4-5.6

“All five lenses and the camera can easily fit in my backpack with space for food, waterproofs, etc. If need be, I can even squeeze in my Panasonic GX9, which semi-permanently has the 7-14mm F4 lens attached – such are the benefits of the micro four thirds system!”

Must-have accessories: “A Nissin i40 flash that is held together with duct tape, Marumi DHG Achromat 200 close-up lens and a Cygnustech diffuser – all alongside a couple of polarising filters.

I usually bring food, water, waterproof clothing, and most importantly, a tick remover. When you’re out searching for minibeasts in the undergrowth, it is only a matter of time before you pick up a tick, so it’s best to get them out quickly and safely to minimize the risk of picking up a tick-borne disease.

All of it is put into a Tarion rolltop camera bag. It has plenty of space for my lenses and camera(s), a laptop if needed, and the rest.”

What about insects is so attractive to photograph?

Peter Swan

“I have a passion for photographing insects and other invertebrates, which emerged shortly after getting my first macro lens in 2015. I love being out in nature, but I didn’t have the patience to sit for hours in a bird hide.

With minibeast photography, you can go out to any park, nature reserve, or even into your garden, and you’ll find something to photograph – even in the middle of winter. Even in a nature-depleted, highly populated country with a cool maritime climate (the UK), you’ll be surprised at just what you can find when you go out looking for it.

Along with butterflies and dragonflies, some of the most interesting species, such as springtails, are only a few millimeters long and are typically overlooked by most people, yet can be brilliantly colorful.”

What’s changed since the beginning?

Peter Swan

“When I first started with macro photography, I was photographing subjects using natural light with a non-stabilized macro lens. To get sharp enough photos, I wasn’t stopping down enough to achieve adequate depth of field, and I was frequently shooting at very high ISO, so the detail wasn’t there.

Upgrading to a stabilized lens helped somewhat, but what really made a difference was when I started to use diffused flash. This is not harmful to the insects while allowing the use of a low ISO and a deeper depth of field to get more of the subject in focus. I initially made my own simple flash diffuser using a transparent folder with white paper glued to it before buying a custom-made one (Cygnustech) after seeing the results other people were getting with theirs.

The next steps for me would be to become more proficient in focus stacking; however, this requires a lot of time and patience (some stacks require 50+ shots) and, ideally, your subject to remain still for a few seconds. My photo of a very accommodating cellar spider in my house involved 15 images stacked using Zerene.”

What places have helped you to better understand photography?

Peter Swan

“While macro photography can be done anywhere, the best places for biodiversity are dedicated nature reserves. However, if you look closely, you can find minibeasts everywhere. For example, now that I know what to look for, I often see ruby-tailed wasps (some of Britain’s prettiest insects) slowly patrolling the walls outside my house and workplace.

I have had a few memorable experiences when photographing some of Britain’s rarer butterfly species – for example, visiting Arnside Knott in Cumbria to photograph Brown Hairstreaks (Thecla betulae), Hickling Broad in Norfolk to photograph old world swallowtails (Papilio machaon), and Fineshades Wood in Northamptonshire to photograph Purple Emperors (Apatura iris).

Sometimes you go somewhere and spot an interesting species immediately, while at other times this happens at the end of the day when you’re just about to pack up and go back home.”

What would help other photographers zoom in on nature’s tiniest of creatures?

Peter Swan

“Generally, the early morning is the best time for photographing insects before they get a chance to fully warm up. If photographing creatures later in the day, be very patient when sneaking up on them, as many species can be extremely skittish!

One of the most important things is to have a clean background. Sometimes I might gently encourage the subject to walk onto an isolated leaf or stem, helping it stand out nicely. Other useful techniques include the use of diagonals. Having lines (e.g., stems) parallel to the edges of the photo is not ideal, aesthetically.

Find something you enjoy photographing, and get out there with your camera to capture it. Or find something that you don’t usually photograph and give that a try, if not just to help move you outside your comfort zone – you never know, you might prefer that particular genre of photography!”

Peter really enjoyed participating in this spotlight article and would love to hear what you think of his photography and to answer any of your questions in the comments below.

You can check out Peter’s other work at flickr.com.

Editor’s note: This article continues a series, ‘What’s in your bag?’, highlighting DPReview community members, their photography and the gear they depend on. Would you like your photography to be featured in a future installment? Tell us a bit about yourself by filling out this form.

The Nikon Z5IIC is an entry-level full-frame camera with a 24.5MP BSI CMOS sensor. As its name implies, the sensor, along with many of the camera’s other specs and features, are borrowed from the company’s larger, more expensive Z5II; Nikon has simply crammed it all into a smaller body, leaving off a few extras like the EVF, high-resolution screen and second card slot.

Editor’s note: at Nikon’s request, all sample photos from a pre-production camera are out-of-camera JPEGs, cropped and re-saved.

Key specifications

• 24.5MP BSI full-frame CMOS sensor
• IBIS up to 7.5EV
• Full mechanical shutter
• 3.2″ 1.04M dot fully-articulated display
• 11fps mech. bursts, 30fps JPEG-only elec.
• 4K/30 full-width, 60p w/ 1.5x crop

The Z5IIC will cost $1400, coming in below even the Z5II’s launch price and representing a $450 discount compared to its current, increased MSRP. It will be available in black or silver, and can be kitted with a variety of lenses, including Nikon’s 24-50mm F4-6.3, 24-105mm F4-7.1 and 26mm F2.8 pancake.

Index:

• What’s new
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Autofocus
• Video
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What’s new

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

There isn’t much new about the Z5IIC, as it’s essentially an existing camera with some features removed, rather than added. This means that the main change is its design, which we’ll mostly cover in the Body and handling section. However, as a high-level overview, the camera has a squared-off body with a grip style similar to that of the Z5II (which ends up making it feel a bit chunky in the hand).

This design, and the EVF it omits, means it occupies a new position in Nikon’s full-frame mirrorless lineup. While the video-focused ZR may appear to fit that description, the Z5IIC’s ergonomics and user experience are much closer to that of a super-sized Z30, but even more focused on stills and hybrid use. This is the first EVF-less mirrorless camera that Nikon has made aimed as much at photographers as videographers.

Mitchell Clark

Beyond the design, Nikon has introduced one minor upgrade to the camera’s autofocus system: in addition to the 9 types of subject the Z5II was trained to recognize, the Z5IIC gains an “aquatic life” mode, mainly designed for taking pictures in aquariums. The camera also gains the highly-customizable grain effect the company introduced on the Zf, which is likely a bigger deal than it seems in the age of social media feeds dominated by simulations of film.

How it compares

With its price and feature set, the Z5IIC doesn’t really have any direct competitors. The Panasonic S9, with its stabilized full-frame sensor and very similar price point may seem like one, but its single top-plate command dial and focus on shooting video, rather than stills, makes it a fundamentally different camera to use once you actually have it in your hand. We’re also comparing the Sony a7C II, since it has a similar form-factor (though a much higher price-point). Finally, we’ve included the Z5II to illustrate what you’re giving up for the C’s smaller size.

For video-first creators, the S9 is, in most ways, the better pick, thanks to its inclusion of open-gate modes, excellent IBIS performance and Panasonic’s unmatched toolbox of features that make shooting video easier (though all of this is slightly let down by its lack of a headphone jack, and somewhat limiting thermal performance). While stills shooters will likely appreciate the openness of the L-mount ecosystem compared to the relatively restricted Z-mount, none of our testers have really enjoyed using the S9 for photography and the lack of a mechanical shutter further cements this. It’s clearly not who the camera is aimed at.

Conversely, while the a7CII has a similarly open lens mount, it goes the opposite direction; it’s a better tool for stills than video, thanks to its quite slow readout speeds. We also appreciate the inclusion of a competent viewfinder, despite the small size and, while we miss having an AF joystick, that’s something the S9 and Z5IIC omit, too. The elephant in the room is price; the a7CII is a cut down version of an enthusiast camera, while the Z5IIC is based on an entry-level model, with the focus on more beginner-friendly scene and color modes that come with that positioning.

Body and handling

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

On its own, the Z5IIC’s body looks small for a full-frame camera, but once you pick it up and attach a lens it ends up feeling relatively substantial. It’s clearly still lighter than other models, but it’s dense, and our testers found the grip filled out even their relatively large hands.

We found the (very approximately) rangefinder-style design to be quite pleasing, and it’s nice that Nikon is providing a version with a silver top plate, even if there’s only a single own-brand lens matched to the color.

Controls

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

The Z5IIC comes equipped with plenty of controls. You get two configurable top-plate dials, a mode dial with two custom settings and most of the customizable buttons you’d find on the rest of the Z-series cameras, including two front-plate ones, next to the lens. Nikon has also included a button that lets you directly access its “Picture Controls” color modes (which you can add to by connecting the camera to Wi-Fi and the company’s Imaging Cloud service).

The one thing the camera doesn’t have is a joystick, so navigating through menus and controlling your autofocus point will have to be done using either the touchscreen or the multi-directional controller. While this isn’t our favorite way of controlling autofocus, it’s less of a concern on a camera where you’ll never be using an EVF.

The menus are, again, the standard Nikon fare that you’ll find across the rest of the company’s mirrorless lineup. We also appreciate another detail that Nikon kept the same: the dedicated stills/video switch, separate from the power-on switch.

Display

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

The Z5IIC’s display is large and fully articulated, but isn’t as high-resolution as the one found on the Z5II, nor is it the super-sized and super-bright model Nikon used for the similarly EVF-less ZR. We found that, in bright sunlight, it was a little too dim to see clearly, though it worked well in most other scenarios.

There will be those that complain that it articulates instead of tilts, and that there’s no EVF (despite Nikon already making essentially the same camera but with a viewfinder). While both are valid preferences to have, there are undeniable benefits to a fully-articulating screen; it’s much easier to preview shots or video of yourself using one, and it can work at odd angles that can be difficult to get with just a tilting one. Plus, if you’re putting the camera in a bag, you can flip the screen inward towards the camera body to protect it.

Nikon says that its market research shows a strong contingent of users who are happy to use a screen-only camera. While they didn’t say it explicitly, it seems likely it’s mainly comprised of younger photographers who grew up using phones where the screen was the only option.

Ports and connectivity

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

The Z5IIC has a relatively robust selection of ports: there’s USB-C for charging and data transfer at 5 Gbps speeds, headphone and microphone jacks for audio monitoring and input and a microHDMI socket for video out. The latter isn’t our favorite connector ever, but it’s a reasonable choice on a camera at this size and price. It also has reasonable wireless connectivity, with 2.4/5Ghz Wi-Fi (the latter of which can power faster file transfers to Nikon’s app), and Bluetooth 5.0.

The camera’s single UHS-II card slot is located on the side of the grip, where it’s easy to get at even if you have your camera mounted on a tripod.

Battery

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Like the standard Z5II, the Z5IIC uses Nikon’s standard 16Wh EN-EL15c battery, and is rated to get 350 shots out of a charge, extendable to 390 shots if you enable the power saving mode. The CIPA ratings under-represent the number of shots you’re likely to get under shooting conditions outside the lab, but work as a useful point of comparison amongst cameras. We’d expect a camera with this rating to be good for a solid day of shooting, or a light weekend, but would recommend bringing a spare or USB-C power bank for the most intensive shooting sessions. So far, Nikon hasn’t made any mention of producing a battery grip for it, nor are any of its existing models listed as compatible.

Autofocus

The Z5IIC adopts the same autofocus system that Nikon uses across its mirrorless lineup, from the Z50II all the way up to the Z9 (though we’ve found it performs a touch better in cameras with faster sensors). This means you have a range of AF modes to choose from, including a single point mode that focuses exactly where you tell it, larger points that can also take the area surrounding them into account, and zones that let you specify an area to focus on objects within. There are three fixed-size zones, and three custom-size ones, though the camera lets you remove focus point types that you don’t use from the menu so you have a shorter list to scroll through.

In addition to these modes, there’s also a wide area mode, where the camera decides what to focus on, as well as an even more automatic AF-A mode where the camera tries to determine whether the subject is moving or static and switch between single and continuous focus acquisition (though we’ve found that, in modern cameras, the latter is reliable enough that this mode isn’t particularly useful). There’s also a 3D Tracking mode, which gives you a small box that will attempt to stick to whatever you place it over, even as it or the camera moves. This is slightly distinct from what you’ll find on Sony or Canon cameras, which offer tracking across their focus point types.

The 3D Tracking, zone and wide-area AF modes, can be used in conjunction with the camera’s machine-learning derived subject recognition system, which can track 10 different kinds of subject (though they’re categorized into six categories, making the list less overwhelming list to scroll through). There’s also an auto subject recognition mode, which will look for any of the kinds of subjects that the camera can recognize in the scene, though there’s no option to narrow that mode down to just the kinds of subjects you expect to be shooting, like you can with some other brands’ systems.

By default, the camera uses Touch Shutter, which means that if you tap on the screen to select a focus point, the camera will take a photo after acquiring focus. This can be turned off via an on-screen button (which is easy to inadvertently reset into Touch Shutter mode, but can thankfully be completely removed), but means that the camera may not work exactly as most users expect the first time they turn it on.

Video

We shot our first look video almost entirely with the Z5IIC.

Apologies if you’re tired of hearing this, but the Z5IIC’s video capabilities are again the same as you’d find on the Z5II. The top-level summary means that it ends up being very competent at videography, with 10-bit recording that uses the full width of the sensor up to 4K/30p, and a 1.5x crop to achieve 4K/60p that can be used for getting an unpleasantly soap-opera-like look or for slowing as slow-motion footage.

While those specs aren’t groundbreaking, Nikon has built a pretty extensive set of workflow tools around the camera’s core recording modes. It has a waveform monitor for more accurately judging exposure – especially handy if you’re recording in N-Log – HLG recording for HDR playback, a tally light to make it obvious when you’re recording and the ability to use its autofocus subject detection modes in video. It even supports recording in N-Raw, though it’s hard to imagine most of the Z5IIC’s target audience ever having a use for it or the SD card slot really enjoying the experience.

In use

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

Given the Z5IIC’s name and appearance, I was surprised by its heft when I picked it up. At 620g it’s almost 100g heavier than the EOS R8 II that I’d been testing immediately before, and that camera has an EVF. The Canon’s minuscule battery is probably a large part of that difference, but Sony’s a7C II is similarly lighter, despite its full-size battery and viewfinder. This isn’t to say that the Z5IIC is heavy by any means, and it feels quite solidly built, but it’s worth noting if you’re interested in it as an ultra-portable everyday carry camera.

Of course, any full-frame’s claims of being light and small will be challenged when you put a lens on it. Nikon’s sub-$1000 S-series primes are quite nice to use, unlike those of some particular competitors, and it does have a fair number of relatively reasonably-sized zooms. However, the latter often have maximum aperture numbers that you’d struggle to be excited by. And if you want a lens that will let you easily fit the Z5IIC in a purse or small-to-medium sling bag, your options quickly dwindle.

Mitchell Clark

While there are benefits to Nikon’s menu system, which has a dedicated set of pages for core photo and video settings, then banks of Custom Settings covering different aspects of shooting, it can take a while to get used to or remember where particular options live. This is exacerbated by the fact that those menus range from settings 95% of users will never need to relatively vital functions; an issue that’s particularly acute in video.

Mitchell Clark

It essentially feels like Nikon has used Custom Settings as a dumping ground for every new thing it comes up with, and I worry that newcomers that pick this camera up as an inexpensive option might be overwhelmed by just how extensive the menus and submenus are (though this is broadly true for most cameras on the market these days). The upside is that, if they take the time to learn them – something made easier by the color coding and initial letters for the sections – the Z5IIC offers a lot of room to grow, with features like pre-capture (unfortunately still JPEG-only), customizable burst rates and a highly customizable “i ” menu that you can use to quickly access your most-used settings while remaining on the shooting screen.

Initial impressions

Richard Butler / Mitchell Clark

It’s easy to look at the Z5IIC and think that it asks you to give up quite a bit for what wind up being minor reductions in size and weight. This would, however, be missing half the point; removing things like an EVF and second card slot also help Nikon hit an aggressive price point that makes the Z5IIC one of the cheapest full-frame mirrorless cameras ever launched.

For that price, you get a lot of camera. Top-tier autofocus, very good image quality, IBIS, fast burst rates, a full mechanical shutter, competent video, I could go on. When the Z5II launched for $1700, I found it hard to believe how much it offered for the money. Now, you can get a whole lot of what made it so good for a lot less. And if you don’t like those trade-offs? Great news! Nikon still makes the Z5II.

Mitchell Clark

The one thing that dampens my excitement is lens selection. Yes, Nikon appears to have been unsuccessful in preventing unlicensed third parties from building lenses for Z-mount, and as a result there are a fair number of lenses on the market that are small and nice to use. That makes the Z5IIC more appealing than if you were stuck with the options Nikon itself has made, or that have its blessing. But because that clearly happened against the company’s will, there is always a risk that future software updates could reduce compatibility with those lenses in some way*.

Still, if you’re happy with the lineup of lenses Nikon and Tamron provide, or are willing to use unlicensed third-party options, the Z5IIC is an exciting option to have on the market. Full-frame cameras aren’t liable to ever be the best option if you’re looking for something truly small and portable, but Nikon has undoubtedly packed a lot into a camera that’s small for what it is. While I still personally believe that first-time camera buyers and anyone seriously focused on portability should give more credence to crop-sensor options, its undeniable that there are people who just want a full-frame camera that’s as cheap (and small) as possible. The Z5IIC manages to fill that role in Nikon’s lineup without giving up too much… unless you absolutely need an EVF.

*And Nikon has, lately, been quite good about providing meaningful software updates that you’ll want to be able to install. Though our advice remains that you should never buy a product on any assumption of what it might do in the future.

Sample gallery

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don’t abuse it. 

Note: unlike all other manufacturers, Nikon does not allow full-resolution samples from its pre-production cameras. The samples provided below are slightly cropped, though not resized, out-of-camera JPEGs to comply with this rule. Our final review will include full-size JPEGs and Raws.

Nikon Z5IIC specifications

The updated site may still be in beta, but we’re pleased to be able to announce the return of one of its most requested features: full-spec camera comparisons.

As well as big changes like this, we’ve been making continued improvements and fixes behind the scenes, but we’re now in a position to address one of the most common requests: a camera comparison feature that makes proper use of our specs database.

We appreciate how important it is to the community that the tool works well, and recognize that it wasn’t up to your expectations at the site’s launch. Having worked hard to build and maintain our database for more than 26 years, this was always something we planned to do, so we’re pleased to be able to add it back to the site.

The camera comparison feature works slightly differently than before but should also present the data in a way that’s both easier to read and to compare, especially on mobile. We’ll be making some adjustments in the coming days and weeks, and as always, we welcome your feedback about how it can be further improved.

This isn’t the end, by any means, though. A light theme version of the site is already being tested, to make sure it works reliably across the site, so please bear with us as we continue to improve the website.

Apple recently released the iPhone 18 Pro, which became fully available for purchase last week. As a result, reviews and hands-on tests are trickling in, so we’re learning more about the phone. If you’re curious what people are finding, here are some videos that showcase different features or aspects, all with a main focus on the camera system.

JerryRigEverything’s teardown

If you like seeing the electronic guts inside phones and cameras, you’ll like JerryRigEverything’s teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro. His video reveals the hardware behind its variable aperture main camera, camera stabilization system and internal cooling. For those who only care about the camera components, you’ll need to skip to roughly 7:02, or 9:25 to see the variable aperture camera.

A photographer’s perspective

Tyler Stalman walks through the new phone from a photographer’s perspective. He explains the aperture controls in plain language, then digs into Apple’s Image Effects, Reference Image mode and AI-based editing tools. He also shoots film alongside the iPhone to see how convincingly its new film-inspired looks reproduce the real thing.

A field test in Colorado

Austin Mann takes the iPhone 18 Pro to Colorado for both a written and video review. Along with testing the new variable aperture for night scenes and shutter-dragged motion blur, he demonstrates Focus Tracking in video and shows why it could be useful for moving subjects and close-up work. He also covers 4K time-lapse, Reference Image and Apple’s latest Photographic Styles. You can read his written review on his website as well.

A cinematographer’s perspective

Matt WhoisMatt Johnson looks at the iPhone 18 Pro as a filmmaking tool. His review focuses on the updated subject tracking, exposure control without always needing ND filters, heat management and the optical side effects of stopping down, including pronounced sunstars and changes to ghosting.

Jimmy Chin’s campaign images

Jimmy Chin shared behind-the-scenes material and finished images from his Apple collaboration involving the iPhone 18 Pro and two other photographers. It’s more of an ad than a review, but it shows an example of the polished, exhibition-oriented imagery Apple is using to promote the phone (and Jimmy Chin’s work is always cool to see).

Want to go deeper?

Dale Baskin

Our own Dale Baskin has the iPhone 18 Pro in hand, courtesy of Apple, and is working on some testing to share how the cameras stack up. He’ll soon have a sample gallery to share, and we have more planned, too. Be sure to stay tuned, but in the meantime, let us know if you have any specific questions about the latest iPhone.

We’ve been running this Question of the week series for over a year now, and yet have not covered the most fundamental, and perhaps most important, question yet… what sparked your interest in getting involved in photography?

Compared to many of our veteran community members, I’m still deep into grasping the finer points of taking great shots with a standalone camera, and I’m still intimidated by what I see as more advanced cameras like the Sony a1 II or Canon’s EOS R1.

For today’s question and related to my journey, I feel that joining the DPReview community was the true spark that led me to take my photography seriously. I couldn’t have gotten this far this fast without your insight. Because of our community’s support for each other, I hope new photographers find their spark here, too.

So, with that said…

What sparked your interest in getting involved in photography?

Drop a reply in the comments section below, and if you’ve got a photo to include from your mentioned forum sections, it may be selected for next week’s showcase article on this topic!

Adobe has announced that its acquisition of AI company Topaz Labs has been completed, with it and its products have joined Adobe’s ranks.

Topaz Labs is best known for tools like Topaz Photo, Topaz Video and Topaz Gigapixel, which use a variety of proprietary AI models to do various tasks, like denoising or upscaling photos and video, sharpening pictures or applying a slow-motion effect to standard footage. Adobe announced its intentions to acquire the company earlier this summer, but said it was contingent on regulatory approval, which it has clearly received.

As part of the announcement, Adobe has clearly reiterated its intentions for Topaz’s existing products, at least in the near term: Adobe says the branding, apps and models will continue to be available as standalone products, suggesting you won’t need to also be a Creative Cloud subscriber to access them.

If you do have a Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe says it plans on “integrating Topaz Labs’s tools and models into everyday Creative Cloud workflows,” as well as optimizing the performance of its AI models. Some Topaz Labs models have already been available in tools like Photoshop, but it sounds like that could expand into the company’s video tools as well.

The Canon EOS R8 II adds two of the features that many people felt the original model could have benefited from: an autofocus joystick and in-body image stabilization.

However, as well as making it a better camera, these additions, along with inflation, have made it a more expensive camera, putting it in direct competition with Nikon’s Z5II, which is our current pick of sub-$2000 full-frame cameras.

The Nikon has been on the market longer, so its price has softened a bit, but its list price is within $50 of that of the Canon, so it’s likely they’ll end up costing a similar amount. While the original R8 and, in some places, the original Z5 persist at reduced prices, these are some of the least expensive current models for anyone looking to join a full-frame system and are designed to act as the entry point to this part of the market.

Having used both cameras extensively, we thought we’d look at how they compare and which we think is better.

Headline specs

On paper the core specs of the two cameras are very similar: they have the same-sized sensors with comparable pixel counts, both have image stabilization and both include an AF joystick.

Beyond the core specs, it all becomes a little less clear-cut, with the Canon offering some benefits over the Nikon with regards weight, maximum burst speed and the ability to capture Raw at its fastest burst speeds and in its pre-capture mode. But there are probably more ways in which the Z5II is a stronger camera.

By taking a look at the main differences and when they play a role, it might help you decide which would be the better camera for you.

EVF/LCD

Mitchell Clark

The Nikon has a larger, higher resolution viewfinder than the Canon. The EOS R8 II is built around a smaller viewfinder panel, which is why its resolution is limited to 2.36M dots, which is 1024 x 768px. The Nikon has a larger panel, meaning it can offer higher magnification (a larger view) and 3.69M dot resolution, which equates to 1280 x 960px. This is a 25% increase in linear resolution, which is enough to make the view seem less pixelated, even with the greater magnification. The Nikon’s finder also goes brighter, giving a more realistic preview of highlights.

The Nikon’s rear screen is also a touch larger 3.2″ display with 1024 x 680px resolution, vs the Canon’s 3.0″, 900 x 600px display. The size is likely to make more difference than the roughly 14% difference in linear resolution. Both cameras have fully-articulated displays that hinge to the side.

Mechanical shutters

Another difference is that the Nikon has a full mechanical shutter, whereas the Canon has an electronic first curtain (/mechanical second curtain) shutter. This doesn’t make a huge difference for most real-world shooting, but one difference is that the Nikon can shoot at up to 1/8000 sec shutter speeds, whereas the Canon tops-out a stop earlier than that.

The Canon’s fully electronic shutter mode can go higher than this, but with a readout speed of around 1/70 sec, this can’t be used with flash and risks showing rolling shutter distortion with fast movement and banding with flickering lights.

Twin card slots

Richard Butler

The Nikon has twin SD card slots, while the Canon has just one. This isn’t likely to make a huge difference to any but the most risk-averse photographers. Dual card slots can offer a level of dependability that is essential for professional work, but is more a question of your risk comfort level ranged against your willingness to pay for multiple cards, for most day-to-day photography.

Video

Mitchell Clark

Things are less clear-cut when it comes to video. The Z5II can capture Raw video which might, if you’re from a photo background, sound like an immediate win for the Nikon. But, in practice, this generates a lot of data, requires a rather more involved workflow and doesn’t offer the same magnitude of benefit over 10-bit log footage as Raw does over JPEG, in stills.

By contrast, the Canon can record 4K/60, derived from 6K, full-width capture, whereas the Nikon has to crop in to an APS-C region, if you want to shoot footage for slow-mo moments. This makes it harder to maintain a wide angle-of-view and lowers quality on the Nikon. Both cameras shoot 10-bit log, with Canon’s C-Log3 being preferred by many editors.

Battery life

However, battery life is a much more decisive difference between the cameras. The Z5II uses the same 16Wh battery as the Z6 series modes, powering it to a rating of 350 shots per charge if you shoot using the rear screen or 330 if you use the viewfinder. The Canon uses a much smaller 7.5Wh battery, from which it delivers a rated lifespan of 270 and 150 shots per charge, for using the rear screen and viewfinder, respectively.

And, while the numbers that the standard testing offers up aren’t necessarily exactly those you’ll see in the real world, we’d generally expect a camera that measures as 330 shots per charge to last around twice as long as one rated at 150. The video ratings are also a little over twice as high for the Nikon. For anyone looking to use the camera for more than occasional snaps, this difference is likely to be very noticeable.

It’s one of the factors that makes the Nikon appreciably heavier, though, weighing in at 700g (24.7oz), making it 154g (5.4oz) heavier than the Canon.

Lens choice

Mitchell Clark

The final consideration is lens choice. Given all modern ILCs sit somewhere between ‘really quite good’ and ‘excellent,’ the availability of appropriate lenses is just as important as your choice of camera brand.

Both Canon and Nikon have built out fairly extensive lens lineups with a selection of low, mid and high-level lenses, in a good array of sizes and focal lengths. However, both have also tried to restrict access to their mounts to their own lenses plus a handful of lenses they’ve licensed third-parties to make: the majority of which are for APS-C models, but with some of Tamron’s full-frame options available for Nikon. The biggest difference, in this regard, is that unlicensed third party makers are offering increasing numbers of lenses for the Nikon Z-mount, whereas Canon has more effectively controlled the RF ecosystem.

In both instances, we’d recommend checking whether the lenses you think you might want exist at a price you’re willing to pay. And to check reports and reviews, if those lenses are made by third parties, as the autofocus performance in particular can vary significantly even within the same brand.

Summary

There are the hints the Canon has tried to make the EOS R8 II easier to use, with its Advanced Assist mode that is willing to automatically use multi-shot modes, where necessary, and the option of a simplified, results-focused Raw processing interface. However, the Z5II does have a button for directly accessing its Picture Control color modes, whereas the Canon has two distinct color systems, one of which can’t be accessed when shooting Raws, so in some ways the Nikon can be easier to use. The Canon’s menu is perhaps a tiny bit more logically grouped, but both are a little overwhelmed with options and will take a little time to learn.

Overall, the EOS R8 II and Z5II both offer a level of image quality and performance that you couldn’t previously get at this price and will be more than enough camera for a lot of photographers, even if inflation means they’re not quite the obvious bargains that their predecessors were.

There’s certainly been no shortage of compact, vintage-inspired digital cameras lately, and we may soon have yet another option courtesy of Yashica. The company recently announced the development of the Y16, a compact digital camera inspired by the 1959 film camera of the same name.

While full details haven’t been released, the camera will feature a 12MP sensor and be able to record photos and videos, as Digital Camera Watch reports. It will offer an optical viewfinder and a small display for reviewing images.

Yashica

Unlike the LED lamps found on many novelty-style digital cameras, the Y16 uses a xenon flash tube, a true photographic strobe that produces a short, brighter burst of light, potentially giving it better low-light reach and more ability to freeze motion. The flash will offer three brightness levels.

The digital Y16 camera looks remarkably similar to the 1959 version, with its slim rectangular shape and large, knurled black control dial on top. Even the seven different color options of the upcoming Y16 look similar to the film version. The original was a 16mm film camera that used 10x14mm negatives and featured a fixed-focus Yashinon 25mm lens. There’s no word yet on what focal length the digital model will use.

Yashica

Of course, like other historic camera brand names in use today, the Yashica name on this camera is not entirely straightforward. Despite the familiar name, the Y16 does not represent a revival of the original Japanese Yashica camera maker. Kyocera, which acquired Yashica in the 1980s, ended production of Yashica- and Contax-branded cameras in the early 2000s.

The Yashica trademark was later acquired from Kyocera and is now operated through a Hong Kong-based brand and distribution structure, which markets a range of retro-inspired digital cameras and accessories under the name. The company has not disclosed who designed or manufactures the new Y16.

Yashica

The announcement follows two similar cameras in just the past few weeks. Fujifilm announced the Pal 2, a palm-sized rectangular camera, on September 15, followed by the Camp Snap 110D, a screen-free option inspired by 110 film cameras popular in the 1970s.

Pre-orders for the Yashica Y16 will reportedly begin in October, with orders scheduled to ship in November.

Earlier this month, DJI announced the Osmo 360 II, a second-generation version of its camera designed to capture everything around it. This week, the company held an event to show it off, where we’ve been able to get hands-on access to it.

It’s a relatively minor upgrade from its predecessor, with one of the most major updates being its user-replaceable lenses for greatly improved repairability. It can capture 360 video at up to 8K/60, and features a pair of square Type 1/1.1 (92mm²) sensors that, when stitched together, add up to roughly the same area as a 4:3 Type-1 (128mm²) sensor. Of course, unless you’re mainly shooting for the few people who still watch immersive video in a headset, you won’t be using that whole area (or even the majority of it) in most of its modes.

You can check out our unboxing video of it below, but while we have it, we want to know: are there any questions you have about it and how it works? If so, leave them in the comments and we’ll try to answer them.

Vivo has launched its X500 flagship series in China, comprising the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max. The range is built around Vivo’s camera and video ambitions, with Zeiss-branded triple-camera systems across all three models. The Pro and Pro Max receive the most advanced imaging hardware and video modes, while the standard X500 acts as the more affordable entry point to the series.

Cameras

Vivo

The X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max both feature 24mm equiv. main cameras built around the 50MP Type 1/1.28 (74.4mm²) Sony Lytia L910 sensor. That sensor uses LOFIC technology, promising greater dynamic range by capturing clean shadow detail while providing extra capacity to retain bright highlights. You can learn more about LOFIC technology in our explainer.

On the telephoto end, the X500 Pro uses a 64MP, 85mm equiv. telephoto camera. The Pro Max shares the same focal length (though not the same lens), but uses a 200MP Type 1/1.4 (62.7mm²) sensor behind a Zeiss-branded APO periscope lens.

The three 50MP ultrawides appear similar on paper, but the X500 uses Samsung’s JN1 sensor, while the Pro and Pro Max use the newer Samsung JN5.

For its other two cameras, the X500 features a 50MP main camera that uses the same Sony Lytia LYT-828 sensor as in the X300 Pro. The 64MP telephoto camera offers slightly less reach, at 72mm equiv.

Vivo

The X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max are both compatible with Vivo’s optional Zeiss Telephoto Extender Gen 2 Ultra, which Vivo says provides a 400mm equiv. focal length.

Vivo’s largest video step also belongs to the Pro models. The X500 Pro and Pro Max can record 4K video at up to 240fps for slow motion and support 10-bit 4:2:2 Log capture and ACES color-management workflows. The X500 retains 4K/120p slow motion and 10-bit Log recording. All three phones include 4K/60p cinematic portrait video.

Displays and design

*The black X500 Pro Max is 225g (7.9 oz); other finishes are 229g (8.1 oz).

The X500 Pro is the most compact option of the bunch, with the base model featuring a larger display and, as a result, slightly larger dimensions and weight. Unsurprisingly, the Pro Max is the largest and heaviest.

The Pro and Pro Max use 144Hz LTPO AMOLED displays with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support. Vivo rates both at up to 4500 nits peak brightness. The X500 likewise has a 144Hz AMOLED display with 4000-nit peak brightness.

Vivo

All three phones promise IP68 and IP69 ingress protection and run OriginOS 7, which is based on Android 17. All three support up to 90W wired and 40W wireless charging. The X500 Pro and Pro Max also support reverse wireless charging, while the X500 includes Bypass Charging 2.0.

The X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max are among the first phones to use MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro, the company’s new flagship smartphone system-on-chip and successor to the Dimensity 9500. The standard X500 uses the Dimensity 9600M instead.

Price and availability

Chinese pricing starts at CNY 5499 (∼$820) for the X500, CNY 6499 (∼$970) for the X500 Pro and CNY 6999 (∼$1045) for the X500 Pro Max. The X500 and X500 Pro Max are scheduled to go on sale in China on September 24, followed by the X500 Pro on September 29. Vivo has not announced U.S. availability, global pricing or a wider release schedule.